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Glass boxes don't square with waterfront greatness

If more proof were needed about why Toronto will never achieve the greatness it craves, it was provided this week by the Waterfront Design Review Panel.

Created by the Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corp. and chaired by Toronto architect Bruce Kuwabara, its responsibility is to ensure that redevelopment of the city's waterfront meets the highest architectural standards.

Instead of doing that, however, the panel bent over backwards to accommodate a proposal, Project Symphony, that by the body's own admission sets the bar as low as it could get away with.

The scheme, designed by Diamond Schmitt Architects for an unnamed client on publicly owned land at the foot of Jarvis St., would be unremarkable even it were located along, say, Highway 400. But as the first project on a major site on the water's edge, it says loud and clear that it's business as usual in Toronto, that architecture is at best of secondary importance and that the interests of business take precedence over those of the city.

Though most members of the panel made it clear they weren't happy with the design, the group recommended the project proceed, but on the condition that as it progresses, it continues to go before the panel.

Given the architectural ordinariness of the scheme and the secrecy of the process, it will come as no surprise that it's the brainchild of the Toronto Economic Development Corp. and its CEO Jeff Steiner, whose desire to please potential tenants knows no bounds. When details of the contract become public – if they ever do – rest assured the client will have been given a sweetheart deal.

TEDCO, wholly owned by the city, was incorporated in 1986 to develop municipally owned lands and promote job creation.

Architect Jack Diamond clearly understands TEDCO's priorities; he began his presentation yesterday by pointing out that his building will bring 1,100 jobs to the waterfront. Great, but this was the designer talking to a design panel!

No one denies bringing employment to the waterfront is crucial, but at what price?

Diamond's design, which all panel members agreed was much improved after two previous sessions, consists of two glass-clad boxes joined by a glass atrium.

Though there's really nothing wrong with the proposal, the trouble is it's on the waterfront, where the same old, same old won't do.

Located east of the Jarvis St. slip and Redpath Sugar, it would include a "dune"/amphitheatre on the west side as well as a café and an interior space that could be used as a theatre. Other than that, the most accessible part of the project is an underground parking lot that will be open to the public after hours and on weekends.

"The panel wimped out," admitted Toronto architect and panel member Siamak Hariri, who was attacked by the notoriously thin-skinned Diamond during the sometimes stormy session. "We're here to be a design review panel and this is one of the most important projects on the waterfront. I'm not inspired by it."

Kuwabara also made it clear he wasn't excited by the scheme.

"It was a conditional approval," he insisted, "approved on the basis of a process that allows us to review the details. I still have a lot of issues. I always thought there should have been a competition for the first waterfront building. I wish it could be more than it is. It has to be urban, animated and able to capture the public imagination. If it doesn't get better and better, I'll be the first to say so."

But as the old saying goes, you can't turn a sow's ear into a silk purse. All the detailing in the world won't rescue a scheme that in its very form and massing misses the point and potential of the site. For example, the failure to engage the lake or present an interesting facade on any of its sides and its dubious relationship to street level runs all too deep for rehabilitation.

The Diamond Schmitt firm's great strength is its ability to produce fabric buildings that fit in seamlessly with their context. The Regent Park Community Health Centre and the Bahen Centre on St. George St. are examples of the excellence of which the firm is capable. But then there's the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, which fails as a civic and cultural icon.

Project Symphony is critical because it will establish the context for the waterfront. This proposal is not up to the task.

Let the Diamond Schmitt team do the second, third or fourth buildings on the site – background buildings – but not the first.

And how sad that waterfront revitalization should be compromised almost before it has started by a city agency, TEDCO, acting on behalf of the civic good. We know nothing about how Diamond Schmitt got the commission, the terms of the lease with the secret tenant, or why the project is being rushed through with such unseemly haste.

Pity this city. Then get angry, very angry. The revitalization we need extends well beyond the shores of Lake Ontario.

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